Men in plainclothes, one in a balaclava, raided the Charlottesville courthouse today. They abducted a local painter whose case (allegedly fighting with his roommate) was being dismissed, and another who was there paying fines. They took them away in unmarked vans. dailyprogress.com/news/local/c...
If ICE is doing the right thing, something they believe in, why do they cover their faces?
Yeah exactly how did they identify themselves did they have proper credentials not only that but isis committing an illegal act they have no arrest powers and after this they absolutely will not if they even exist
Don't let them take you to a secondary location www.tiktok.com/@tootiredand...
What the F??
This is so awful. As a side issue, isn't this going to make it so many will now not show up to court dates? Can't go to work, can't go to school, can't go to court, can't go to the doctor,...
As a UVa Law grad, this made me sick to my stomach for multiple reasons.
So, how far will this country sink? Heartless thugs.
This is terrorism
Abducted by the sand guy from Hellboy.
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This is fucking kidnapping and we cannot allow it to continue. Since when do we stand by and let people be abducted by strangers in full face masks with no ID? Absolutely not. If you see this happening, interfere.
Weren’t there good guys with guns who could have stopped this? Bro. Don’t grab anyone off the street near me. I’ll act. How about you? Will you act? Would you want someone to act if a guy wearing jeans and a button up grabs your son and tries to kidnap him? Isn’t that what this is?
Interesting that they find the need to hide their faces from the court.
Not from the court. From us.
www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-n...
I don't see license plate numbers or make and model
So two people, appearing in court in clear obedience to the law, were...disappeared. Did the court tip ICE off? Is ICE bored and scouring any publicly available docket information to see if a brown-sounding person is about to appear?
I was thinking the same thing. How do they know? Is there a sweatshop of little mullet-headed bigots processing docket info, and generating hit lists, or are there informants who call ICE?
Insanity!!!!
I never want to hear anything about "an armed society is a polite society " or bleating about 2nd amendment rights again. This shit would never fly in a civilised country that didn't fetishise self interest
If it weren't for watching my country's democracy melt into a puddle of rancid goo, I would laugh at the irony of how they specifically used the illusion of citizens using the 2nd amendment to defend themselves from tyranny as the smokescreen to instill tyranny.
The thing about these other countries is that they don't *need* a 2nd amendment to take to the streets, overthrow dictators or fight insurgent actions. People have always found ways to fight tyranny, the myth of American individualism seems inherently disempowering "Someone will do something" etc
ICE’s victims don’t get the chance to prove who they are. ICE agents don’t even have to prove who they are. Cool standard.
If someone who has no identification comes to put you in an unmarked vehicle, you have the right to shoot them in the face. There is no reason to believe them if they say they are agents of the state. If you are a bystander, you should intervene.
I’m waiting patiently until someone does. I’m shocked it hasn’t already.
They’ve been forming human chains in communities to protect neighbors from ICE. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncn... I don’t know that anyone has actually pulled a gun but it’s coming.
This is why they are using more obviously kidnapping and human trafficking tactics to abduct people from where they should be safe, but don’t have community.
I think the abruptness of it freezes people but as it becomes more common people will intervene
Hopefully
100% It's scary AF. You have no idea how those ppl will respond. And they're clearly totally fine with engaging in illegal behavior bc there's zero accountability. State AGs should be prosecuting TF out of these individuals and demanding to know from whom they're taking orders. #BlackShirts
Unlikely inside a courthouse with so few people around. We see opposition because an immigration hotline was called. They're the folks trying to help. The 3 tall, big, highly muscled and threatening men probably are HSI agents as one of them (kinda) says. Outdoors with a crowd may be different!
You know, now that you mention it, I’m sure that courthouse has security guards and a metal detector. They must have allowed these guys in. They should be prosecuted too
They got into a courthouse they must have shown some id Courthouses have security.
Their security is not designed to keep out federal agents or anyone showing a valid ID of any kind.
A typical way this happens is they notify court officers/police earlier about their presence. Policies differ. But, locals often take a position that they won't assist federal agents; neither will they intervene. As a policy, some courts disallow federal agents making arrests.
The immigration hotline was called, and a few people were there for it.
I know schools in my district are being strict instructions NOT to let anyone in and not to talk to anyone who comes. All the teachers I know privately say they would actively obstruct agents if they tried to enter or pursue children.
Yes! Schools are a very different animal. Many districts have an almost ferocious stance on this. Staff and teachers have already frightened off ICE agents attempting to access quite a few schools. Whereas sheriffs/local cops often have preexisting mutual aid agreements or understandings w/feds.
A cops have no obligation to intervene and stop anything anyway. The commitment of teachers to their students is not only part of the job, it's in their DNA. #ACAB
Right. Sometimes they will intervene. Esp., if they see it as a turf thing. Or they are able to identify a clear illegality. (I'm not defending cops. Just saying sometimes they do act. You can never count on it.) The approach of teachers and school staff had been very inspiring to watch.
If you live near an international border you know this. I'm in Southern California and it is policy in every school district I know of to not assist LE and to deny entry unless they have a warrant. I'm proud of their stance. www.sdusdequity.com/protecting-s...
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That’s because if they were actually going after criminals, one of them would have already shot their ass; they’re going after the small petty offenses. COWARDS! 😡🤬🖕🏼
And, you can indeed do it with a gunshot to the face... if you do not mind dying on the spot yourself. I maintain this is not a great strategy.
Doesn't help much when you have to be unarmed when entering a courthouse. Pretty easy target for them at that point.
Immigrants should be arming themselves to defend their families against these thugs. The model shouldn't be sheep waiting for wolves.
Kidnappers. Kidnappers kidnapped people in the courthouse and took them away in unmarked vans.
What the hell!!!
This video really needs to be shown on all the network and cable news shows. @maddow.msnbc.com ? @cbsnews.com ? @cnn.com ?
Throwing people out of helicopters comes next
that is criminal abduction.,
All the roads are a farce. They are about the appearance of doing something. I haven’t seen a single raid on agriculture or meat processing, where there are big numbers in one place. Those raids would increase inflation and, show the value of immigrants.
Sounds like somebody’s getting paid to look the other way.
WTF?! They just look like random dudes! Terrifying!
Ice is the new Gestapo
But we do not know who hooded and disguised people are. Were they ICE? Keep your pepper spray handy and your feet ready to connect with private parts. Resist!
WTAF?!
How do court officials just let random people without proper ID and uniform kidnap people from the courtroom? How is a bailiff not pulling a gun on these assholes?
I've been around courthouses on a few occasions, there's always police officers standing around. ALWAYS! Inside and outside of the building. Where were the cops? Where were the lawyers? The other court officials that work at a courthouse? WTF???
Because the cops are as bad as the guys with the mask….most law enforcement are not to be trusted, sadly they think like their felon leader that they’re above the law
Cops have never been huge fans of "due process". They see it as an impediment
My god. What is happening to this country. This is human trafficking.
Where was security and why didn't someone call 911?
Did they show proof of authority?
I cannot believe they won’t allow protesters to wear masks but then people WHOSE SALARIES WE PAY AND WHO HAVE COERCIVE POWER are allowed to conceal their identity. This should be illegal—is it? It seems like it would be illegal!
So, ICE is the Gestapo of the Trump admin. Got it.
the proud boys are now the law, even in a court of law
People need to start using their second amendment rights and shooting these undressed, uncredentialed assholes. Right in the fucking face.
At which point they will be immediately be killed themselves. Great strategy you have there.
That is a risk, yes. And that's a choice those who carry have already made and should be prepared for. The point is to make these cowardly little Nazis fucks scared of all of us - not the other way around.
I assume they’re targeting people in state and federal buildings partly because they know all the bystanders will be unarmed.
This is definitely one of those situations Republicans always cite for unfettered gun access. If a "good guy with a gun" had pointed it right at these masked men's faces, a kidnapping might have been stopped.
When and where the first time this happens will be a landmark in history, especially if it gets ugly and there's some sort of shootout - it will probably happen with these sorts of tactics being used in the most armed country in the world.
I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet. People are constantly shooting themselves, their kids, each other accidentally. But in ALL these kidnappings we hear about, in a country with more guns than people, NO ONE armed is ever around to save the day. Unless the thwarted ones aren't reported.
Florida woman poses as ICE agent to kidnap wife of ex-boyfriend from work, authorities say www.foxnews.com/us/florida-w...
This is another reason why dissapearings are bad because then you have DIY dissapearings and who can tell difference?🙃🙃🙃
"Do not touch me or impede me in my lawful duties. We are officers from Homeland Security." Yeah, unless you show us ID and a warrant, we have no reason to believe you, asshole. Your duties are only lawful in as much as they are transparent to the public, your employer.
How are these guys not getting shot?
Why weee they let in?
American Nazi Gestapo. Department of Fatherland Defense agents, no doubt.
These folks know what they're doing is wrong and there will be a reckoning. The balaclava won't save you from repercussions down the road. If you can't show your face, that's a strong signal.
Roid rage.
I would support NY State making it a crime for law enforcement officers (ie: ICE) to wear masks when arresting/ kidnapping people. @governor.ny.gov @newyorkstateag.bsky.social @micahlasher.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/tfra...
NYPD has been doing this since before ICE existed. No way they’d let that law get passed.
I support stand your ground laws for attempted kidnappings, disappearances, and other war crimes committed by masked paramilitary thugs.
They look like criminals. Act like criminals. Maybe they are criminals?? (The guys in the masks without badges who are abducting other people)
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Cool to live in a country where at the very least half the population thinks this shit is OK and good.
We need to surround these people and stop this from happening. Why are we making this easy for these gestapo?
This plainclothes/face covered mob is grossly unamerican. 🤬
There's nothing saying they were federal agents, is there?
How does anyone know these are ICE and not MS-13? Like, why didn't the police shoot these masked criminals?
(White.)
Bounty hunters
Oh, you can tell your friends and family members by their gait.
Unless there is a countervailing reason, it would good to publish the names of those abducted.
Calling it a "public policy mistake" is painfully naive.
Extraordinary rendition, it's here. This is abduction. The lawlessness is staggering.
Why are their faces covered? How do we know who these people are?
WTF??!! This is no longer America folks! ICE needs to be stopped. The asshole is using them as his own police force!!
People need to stand ready to fight and/or film these guys
Goons
Please. Please make sure you are carrying mace with you at all times.
Badge numbers and warrants produced to the court?
Turns out that second amendment is useless piece of s*** cuz all those second amendment people aren't using it to fight tyranny.
It's time for a general, nationwide strike. Waiting on someone else to act, hoping that things cant really get worse with this Administration's horrific coup of our democracy will only cement his hold on our country and our national nightmare to come. Spread the word. Be ready. The time is near!
Whether this is ICE or general law enforcement or whatever, the fact the kidnappers were wearing fucking balaclavas makes this seem like they know it's criminal, and we should absolutely demand this is treated like a crime.
And the cops in that courthouse were fine with this eh?
No id. No uniform. No warrant. It is a kidnapping and should be treated as such. Even regular cops usually hate these types of vigilantes because it makes their job more difficult knowing who the ones committing crimes are.
For “who is committing the crime” I have a simple answer. It only gets complicated if you ask “who is commuting a crime police is willing to overlook?”
“A witness who asked not to be identified said the two women showed up in response to a call to the Immigration Rapid Response Hotline, a public service promoted by civil rights and immigrant support groups.”
Arrest these kidnappers
Fucking cops with no credentials or ID from the same people who squawk non stop about voter ID.
What are LEOs legal required to do in this situation? Verbally announce that they are LEOs? Declare what agency they work for? Show ID and/or badges? Have and/or show a warrant? What of these things do they have to tell/show the party being snatched vs tell/show bystanders?
Yikes!
Unbelievably frightening.
How does anyone know they are ICE? In Coeur d’Alane they were hired thugs who drug the lady out of a town hall.
They never showed ID or confirmed after the fact. Local police refused to inquire. We don't even know if they were actually ICE.
Which local police are you referring to here? There are multiple agencies at play: City Police, City Sheriff or the County Sheriff which is in charge of the courthouse. The City attorney, in the article, criticized this and said he would investigate further.
County Police, which was the only law enforcement mentioned in the article I was responding to.
Disgusting
Why do they need to cover their faces? How do people even know that they’re really officers? What the hell are we doing?
Sounds like it’s time to start unmasking the kidnappers.
Grabbing people in courthouses is a way of ensuring they have been disarmed in advance.
ICE is human trafficking.
bsky.app/profile/jala...
Any Nazi loon in plainclothes and balaclava can just abduct people and proclaim themselves to be ICE agents. No one would stop them and ask for proof of identification after all. That is the extent casual abductions of Americans have been normalized.
Where is @kaine.senate.gov ?
This was my question also? Why no response?
i think if rando kidnappers show up to abduct someone i think they should be maimed and like shot at
what's with the sheets on their heads?
Having worked in El Salvador a long time ago during a bad time we’re pretty close to these guys pulling up in technicals and just dragging them out to the desert
Total dystopian shit show- live every day courtesy Dear Leader
They just love the face mask image.
Totally , Seen too many movies and acting all tough… sending a painter to jail
Fave covering of these agents needs to be made illegal. They should have readily verifiable IDs showing at all times. Period.
Kidnapping is surely illegal at every level.
This is why this liberal has started conceal carrying a gun in public.
How is it that court officials just let this happen? We're at the point where masked men without badges can just abduct anyone and we're just like "well, okay I guess?" And when are people going to start identifying and calling out these cretins?
When you're white they just let you do it
ICE did this in Boston and the judge held them in contempt of court but the fucking feds got the contempt charge dismissed apnews.com/article/ice-...
Fuckers. We all need to complain to these officials that ICE is making all of us less safe by doing this shit. And how the fuck is it “carrying out official business” to kidnap someone and throw them in an unmarked van?
Good cops quit the day after Trump was elected a second time - true story! Obviously there were no good cops at that courthouse if they allowed masked men with guns anywhere near the public and a Judge!!
They should not be allowed to cover their faces. If they can’t do this unmasked and legally, they know they are wrong.
Wtf
At that point it is the puplics duty to protect their fellow citizens! If you allow them to abduct people you allow it to worsen!
ICE is using Palantir tech to cross reference gov’t databases & geolocate noncitizens. They can abduct people from courthouses as well as public areas of schools, churches, and hospitals. (They still need a signed judge’s order to go in non-public spaces.) If you witness this happening, document it.
I think they still need an administrative (ICE) warrant. Just not a judicially signed one.
How do wr know they are ICE if they are masked and wearing plainclothes?
This is scary as Hell!
Bastards.
Nazi practices.
We need Nuremberg-style trials for ICE, CBP and DOGE, to start with
Nah no trials. They are doing all of this in the public eye. The WORLD is the witnesses there is no reason for a trial. They know they are doing wrong. The people get life the ringleader get executed.
Proud Boys?
WTF how do we know who they are?
These bitchmade mask-wearing brownshirt-wannabes waltz into a courthouse and kidnap folks in the middle of their proceedings, and then they have the gall to complain that people say mean things about them. Every one of them should be wiping spit out of their goddamned faces all day long.
This is the extrajudicial phase. Codification, coordination, and a new legality permitting these will soon follow.
Now interview the judge & get him to endorse or condemn this.
Absolutely horrifying! It’s just so, let me think …, fascist!
Much like putting real corpses in your yard for Halloween and getting away with it for a month before everyone finds out you're a murderer, everyone is assuming this is a thing being done by ICE but could just be kidnappers kidnapping people, we don't know
I’ve thought the same - especially when they abduct a woman off the street. Serial rapists can now claim to be ICE to grab any female they want to.
THIS
You shouldn’t have said that. 😬
Forewarned is forearmed
Even ICE by doing this is just kidnappers kidnapping people.
Was that ICE? It looks like kidnappers. Unless they identified themselves by name, ID, and with clear orders for those specific folks, very much seems like a kidnapping. State sanctioned kidnapping maybe.
Nah, fuck that. I don’t see a badge or a warrant. I see a kidnapping & an escalation & three guys getting smoked if I can make to my truck and back in time. Fucking southern police USELESS if someone even CLAIMS to be a cop. Find these guys’ vehicle, follow & disable (snip tire valve stems).
Why would the court's deputies (or whoever provides security) allow masked, non-uniformed intruders -- presumably armed -- into the courthouse? If I were the judges assigned to that courthouse I'd be livid.
Man, wait til you find out which candidate cop unions endorsed three times in a row.
They are paid militants from a security company.
Yes, I saw that too - security firms supplying the labour to make these arrests.
Russian speaking "labour" probably. Directly from occupied Russia or Belarus or occupied part of Moldova, Georgia or Ukraine
Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses.
"I liked that band until they became political"
Can you imagine how awful these ICE agents are when they’re not on duty? Craven vile scum. I hope they rot.
Why are they allowed to wear balaclavas in a courthouse?
Seems familiar…hmm www.britannica.com/topic/Gestapo
I do not support law enforcement looking like the PIRA or the UVF.
"ICE"... Since they're all wearing masks and not identifying themselves they could be literally anyone.
WTF, no one in a fucking COURTHOUSE asked to see a warrant? How do we know they weren’t taken by Proud Boys to be killed?
The security and police just LET THEM DO IT?!?
If they did not show official identification as Department of Homeland Security, how do we know this was not a simple kidnapping? Because that is exactly what it was.
Even if they did, that is still what it is.
The lack of resistance from these ''violent criminals'' never ceases to amaze me...
This shit is really pissing me off. I am sad, embarrassed and disgusted. #RESIST
So they kidnapped people from a damn courthouse? Wtaf?
This is horrifying. If they carry no badges and do not identify themselves, what’s to stop bad actors from just kidnapping people?
These ARE bad actors!
Yes yes that’s a given. I’m talking about ICE imposters
As I was saying! www.newsweek.com/florida-woma...
This is... horrifying.
Sounds like kidnapping and human trafficking to me
Would you not have to assume these are criminals and defend yourself accordingly? Isn't this one of the scenarios that the NRA claimed justified bearing arms?
gothamist.com/news/4-year-...
What the actual fuck?
Scary shit.. I’m are we becoming El Salvador?? Yes!!
Correction: ‘Are we becoming El Salvador’??
Who would’ve thought this would be the United States?
Plenty of us.
Court houses should not be entrapment places where ICE swoop in and disappear victims whose constitutional rights are violated.
* Courthouses
😡👎
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Ok court security personnell, time to step up. Make them remove their masks and make them show you their identification. NO ONE should be terrorized because the went to court to obey a legal requirement.
This is happening on our streets, at our universities and in our public spaces. I do not think we should be allowing this to happen. We need to be in the streets protesting this as is happening at the ICE facility in Tacoma. We should be doing this every day, in overwhelming numbers.
Very carefully picking the forgettable. Eventually, they'll make a mistake and snatch up a football star or rich person, probably pale & suburban... Then watch the country take notice.
A woman A judge Pale as me. This will not end well for the FBI apnews.com/article/immi...
bsky.app/profile/jame...
Abolish ICE
This happened in Virginia. And Virginia is a "Stand Your Ground" law state. Virginia resident can carry concealed handgun. I can see why they chose the court house. No badge. No warrant. Unmarked vans. If these are police, they are secret police. #Gestapo.
Makes sense. You can't bring a gun into a courthouse unless you're a cop.
@maddow.msnbc.com @joshtpm.bsky.social
Print the name of the prosecutor; he or she called them! They did this!
ICESS
Plainclothes? Was there any decent reason not to shoot them? Kidnappers!
The stuff of nightmares
Once again, if you’re wearing a badge and obscuring your face, you’re the bad guy.
They weren’t even wearing badges. It’s only their word that they aren’t gang members
I don't know about that. They claimed membership in a group that exhibits all the characteristics of a gang.
Ah yes, the corollary of the rule. If you're not wearing a badge and obscuring your face while impersonating other state forces that have shown a propensity to wear badges and obscure their faces, you are also a bad guy.
Thug reality.
Manly men, to be sure.
#TrumpHitler
the SS has arrived!
COURTHOUSE?
Why are they allowed to cover their faces?
Maybe it’s time for masked vigilantes on our side
Is it legal to use deadly force to prevent a kidnapping in the event the kidnappers do not provide identification proving their government affiliation?
If I was a judge and some balaclava wearing person walked into my court room and tried to take a party before me away, I'd have them taken into custody and set a hearing for contempt and bond out to the max allowed. Utter disrespect toward the court.
The fact that nothing was done to stop it from happening suggests that it was likely coordinated with the court ahead of time.
Exactly right.
So kidnapping
How do we really know it was ICE? They aren’t identifying themselves and they don’t have warrants. This could be any group of militants, militia, or other home grown terrorist groups. They aren’t just deporting the criminals they are rounding up anyone who can’t/won’t fight back. They are bullies.
Anyone curious why gang warfare in Mexico is so bad? Because if things like that.
I can see useful services one can offer people retaining legal services. Say you are on trial and your lawyer thinks it’s not going well for you; they could ask a group of masked men to barged in and put you in an unmarked van. Judge assumes it’s ICE, but really you broke out of prison early.
You can tell they were official government agents by the masks they wore.
I read somewhere some of these guys are right wing vigilantes
Where the fuck are their IDs? Where is the warrant? Show your face you coward.
This stuff is wrecking me. What do you do if you see this? Risk getting shot by some gestapo chud? Going to federal prison for assaulting an officer and ruin your family’s life? The scales are so tipped against us, we need to find an answer and the courts aren’t designed to help us
There were a story a while ago about people forming a human chain and refusing to let the ICE thugs drive off with their kidnap victim. The ICE gave up and left empty-handed.
So at what point do we expose these “ deputized “ maniacs for what they are GESTAPO !
Why are they always wearing masks? May they all have a future Nuremberg.
Where the fuck were the cops on the courthouse????
So they were kidnapped.
Kudos to those brave women, trying to make sure that the rule of law was in place before they disappeared this man.
Why don't these pussies take off their masks?
If you show no ID or warrant, it’s a kidnapping. No one in a courthouse could stop a kidnapping?
My thought too. A house of ‘Justice.’
Yes, HOW can this be happening?!
America's Brown Shirts
Dude is 4 feet tall. Never ever forget that these Nazi pieces of crap are the most gutless cowards on Earth.
We all told these maga motherfuckers that said “they will only go after violent criminals” like nah, they’re going to go for every single person that shows up to take care of their legal matters and trying to do shit the right way. This dude trying to pay his dui fines, just to be deported. Fuck ice
wtf?! Every single f*cking day. Abolish ICE.
What are the chances that the court hits them with failure to appear now?
How do we know these are even ice agents? There's nothing to distinguish them apart from wannabe fake cops
Bounty hunters
Instead people are worried about trans people using a bathroom! There's laws to stop bodily functions but not abductions.
Officers of the court should intervene. Masked, unidentified people without warrants cannot be allowed to do this shit.
I believe G. Gordon Liddy said it best when he said: "headshots"
A judge must stop these injustices!!
There was a judge in the courtroom. They shouldn’t have been allowed to enter
Did the kidnapping happen in the courtroom?? It’s just awful!
Yes apparently
It was a kidnapping
